Navy identifies SEAL killed in Arizona training accident

PHOENIX (Reuters) - The U.S. military on Saturday identified the elite Navy SEAL who died in a parachute training accident in southern Arizona that also injured another SEAL.

Navy officials said Special Warfare Operator Chief Brett Shadle, 31, of Elizabethville, Pennsylvania, was killed in the free-fall training accident near Pinal Airpark, northeast of Tucson, on Thursday.

Shadle was assigned to an East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit, the Navy said in a statement. The second SEAL, who has not been identified, remains hospitalized in stable condition.

The office of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said Shadle was a highly decorated member of SEAL Team 6 and had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Members of SEAL Team 6 carried out the raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May 2011.

The cause of the accident is under investigation. Brewer said in a statement that Shadle died after colliding with another SEAL in midair. She ordered flags at all state buildings be flown at half-staff on Saturday.